149 206
ENCOURAGEMENT FORWILSONTHE AUTHOR
222
●
WILSON,WOODROW. Autograph Letter Signed, to Barton A. Konkle, thanking
him movingly for his appreciative letter, explaining that authors rarely know how their
writing is being received. 2 pages, 8vo, written on two separate sheets; remnants of prior
mounting at upper and lower edges verso, horizontal folds. (TFC)
Princeton, 23 October 1898
[700/1,000]
“
It is certainly one of the rewards of authorship to get such a letter as yours . . . .
“
A writer of course never sees his audience; he does not know how many he is reaching or in
what way he is being regarded by his readers. He must keep heart amidst the embarrassing
silence, and try to believe that what he writes is at any rate worth saying and deserving of an
audience, for the sake of the truth or the cheer or the right moral impulse . . . . It’s a lonely busi-
ness at best.Your letter . . . . heartens me and touches me very near the quick.”
In 1896,Wilson’s biography,
GeorgeWashington
, was published by Harper & Brothers.